The entire prop crew worked late into the night the other day to dress the set with me for Home and Family's big Halloween show.

Paul discovered tying a noose is easy, but securing the victim was hard.

Cory was a master window silhouette carver...

But a lazy pumpkin carver. Kids these days, he used a Dremel tool. Back in my day, we only had blunt and broken popsicle sticks to carve with, and happy to have them.

Tara ran around insisting we include baby dolls in the creepy decor. I reminded her this was for the Hallmark channel and that might be a bit too much. She said "Just parts of babies then?"

I kid, that never happened. I missed getting a picture of her working hard
that night, the above is the only one I have from a whole other show.

And speaking of not having a picture of, fellow Halloween haunter, Derek Young, of Van Oaks Cemetery and Better Haunts and Gardens, joined us that night to help. Derek was more than willing to cut the baby dolls up for Tara. Awkward.

Making a cheap Jason hockey mask better. To the left, the before. To the right, the after.

Improving it was easy. First, being soft foam, I shaped into a more character accurate curve by heating with an ordinary hair dryer. Then it was just aging. I cut some chips and dents into the edges for a more well worn appearance and gave it a wash of watered down dark brown acrylic paint. Next I actually rubbed muddy dirt on it here and there. Once dry I sealed it with a very light coat of matte finish clear spray. Finally, a couple of random splatters of stage blood and done. Took a 1/2 hour to do. 45 minutes if you count drying time.

A few weeks back, I sketched this concept of a spooky sign post for my own Halloween yard.

I haven't found the time to create it until earlier this week. Home and Family producers needed a DIY project idea at the last minute for the next day's show. So I suggested the sign post and sure enough, it got made. 2 drums of midnight oil were burned getting it done, but working into the wee hours on a project like this is never painful. The completed version was a bit simpler than the original concept, but still captured the intended spirit of the sketch.

The complete "How-To" and video from the show explaining how the signs where made can be found over on the Hallmark Channel show site here.

I'm back from the dead blogging world and ashamed. It's my favorite time of year and only now starting my Countdown to Halloween posts!

I'll be honest, the day job is to blame. After a 12 hour workday, everyday, eating dinner and passing out overrides my urge to blog. But I'm determined to not let these wonderous October days slip past without celebration anymore.

With work in mind, I thought I'd start my countdown with a small portfolio of creepy images I took over the past year around the Universal Studios lot, where I'm one lucky Halloween enthusiast and able to wander.

I've been doodling up my own Halloween themed window silhouettes for possible use in my haunt this year, and thought I'd share 'em if you'd like to use in your own decorating. Feel free to swipe the images below. The ones above are just to give an idea how they might look in windows.

I'm having a lot of fun drawing these, so if this Zombie horde below doesn't appeal to you, stay tuned, many more creeps and creature silhouettes in the works.

You can cut these out of black foamcore, poster board, or construction paper (anything opaque really). Then simply tape into your windows. There are a few ways to scale the images to fit your window once you know how big you want 'em. No one way is best, whatever is easier for you. If you have a better way, DO IT (and share as a comment).

- If you have the funds, take the images to Kinkos (or similar copy center), have enlarged and printed as a poster (if in your budget, they can also mount onto foam board for you).
- If you have a projector (or can borrow one), project the images onto a board and trace. In that vein, project the image onto fabric or a shower curtain, then paint on and hang in window.
- The cheapest route, scale the image on your computer, print in sections and use as a template (BTW most copy centers can tile/section image for you as well ).
-The No-Money route is an old art class 101 copying trick. Using a ruler draw a grid over the image in small equally sized squares (like 1/2" by 1/2"). Then draw a larger, scaled up, grid on the board. Freehand copy only what you see in each smaller square into each larger square. It works. Breaking down the image into simpler shapes makes freehand copying more accurate.